No need to upgrade your PCs anymore

[RCBH928]

I think we all agree on this! If AppleQueso is still running a 10 year old OS, an OS that was out before Youtube was created by 3 years , You can only imagine how long something like WIn7 or 8 will last you.

I started this thread because my laptop spec is 2008, and 4 years later I see NO REASON to upgrade(Ok I upgraded the RAM to 6GB and HDD to 500GB,, total $156). It feels just as fast as new. I used a recent laptop from a friend, you can hardly tell a difference using a core2dou machine(mine) or the i7 . I remember in the late 90's to mid-2000s , after 4 years, you better upgrade or your will be using a relic piece of technology.

I can agree on the SSD upgrading, but its more of a luxury upgrade than a necessity . HDD will perform just as good as SSD. Actually I prefer HDD currently because the benefit of much higher storage space for very low price is bigger than the noticeable speed difference but at much higher price!


@J T

Last I checked most application developers support their apps for a very long time. I bet there are not many who totally stopped updating people on XP. I bet their apps will still on it.

Apple is the only company that quickly stops support for older OS's for reasons I do not understand, but whatever OS you got , it will work like a charm.

@AppleQueso

How did you keep using WIn '98/2000 up to 2008? Does the browser work well? I thought website today need very recent browser to be viewed and I dont think win98 is supported by flash to watch youtube?

@jercee

I have done some video editing , I understand that dealing with media can always benefit from extra power. Actually I am still amazed how slow current machine are to use something like HandBrake. But I was talking about the average consumer, not niche .

[isiolia]

I can agree on the SSD upgrading, but its more of a luxury upgrade than a necessity . HDD will perform just as good as SSD. Actually I prefer HDD currently because the benefit of much higher storage space for very low price is bigger than the noticeable speed difference but at much higher price!

HDD performance doesn't even come close to SSD performance in most metrics. Where SSDs really make a difference is access speed, and even a top-end HDD based RAID doesn't compare.
'course, being able to pack the transfer rates of a high-end HDD based RAID into a cool, silent, power-sipping 2.5" package is pretty nice too

If you can only have one, it is a tradeoff, but for desktop machines they complement one another. After recent upgrades, I've got a 256GB SSD + a 1TB, a 1.5TB, and a 2TB HDD in my desktop at home (plus a file server, and external drives).

Either way, I think the general notion is correct. Computing power has outpaced what the average consumer needs to the point that it would not surprise me to see people rely solely on iOS/Android style devices for their home computing.
There will always be things people want full desktops or laptops for, but I think they'll get relegated more to being enthusiast hardware.

Another view that my boss here at work holds is that with the push towards "cloud" computing, our home setups will turn more into the mainframe model. We'll run a home server (like some of us do already), and our various devices will be thin clients accessing content and leveraging computing power from it.

[AppleQueso]

@AppleQueso

How did you keep using WIn '98/2000 up to 2008? Does the browser work well? I thought website today need very recent browser to be viewed and I dont think win98 is supported by flash to watch youtube?

Thinking some more, my timeline was off. I think I was using '98 until maybe 2006? It's honestly hard to remember the specifics. I know I had some terrible HP comp that had Windows ME on it, which I downgraded to 98SE because ME is completely awful.

[Robonaut]

I agree that upgrade cycles are becoming longer.

I used to upgrade every two years or so. I do music production as a hobby, so it was always appealing to get more power to run more tracks and more plug-ins.

But I haven't upgraded my current PC in over three years and I don't see any pressing need to do so for some time. It can run all of the music stuff I need without breaking a sweat.

The only thing that could get me to upgrade would be a new PC game that I *really* wanted to play, but there hasn't been one of those since Champions Online came out.

For the average consumer (like, say, my Mom) who just wants to browse the Internet, create greeting cards, and do some spreadsheets, there's even less reason to upgrade.

[RCBH928]

Either way, I think the general notion is correct. Computing power has outpaced what the average consumer needs to the point that it would not surprise me to see people rely solely on iOS/Android style devices for their home computing.

A non-techie friend of mine said this to me. He said since I got my iPad, I have been hardly using my laptop. I used to use my laptop daily. The iPad has been out for only 2 years, I wonder whats going to happen in another 5, because 5 years earlier(iPhone release) there was no touch screen phones...

He makes a good point, at around 2007 it was still Nokia's era :p

[fastbilly1]

because 5 years earlier(iPhone release) there was no touch screen phones...

Palm IIIs were made into cellphones in the late 90s

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Either way, I think the general notion is correct. Computing power has outpaced what the average consumer needs to the point that it would not surprise me to see people rely solely on iOS/Android style devices for their home computing.

A non-techie friend of mine said this to me. He said since I got my iPad, I have been hardly using my laptop. I used to use my laptop daily. The iPad has been out for only 2 years, I wonder whats going to happen in another 5, because 5 years earlier(iPhone release) there was no touch screen phones...

He makes a good point, at around 2007 it was still Nokia's era :p

Well, there were touch screen phones, they just blew massive chunks due to UI and the resistive touch screen.

[deathsled]

There will always be a reason. Operating systems keep getting more complex and demanding more resources. Well, Windows does, because Microsoft keeps making pointless graphical upgrades because consumers like "shiny things".

That's a poor example because using Vista as a starting point each new OS has been less hardware intensive. Win7 has less demanding hardware requirements than Vista and runs much more smoothly on the same machine. Win8 is even less demanding than 7 and runs great on current and older machines.

[Zing]

I think everyone will agree that CPU speed is much less significant than it was before the Core series. A decent speed (2Ghz+) Core 2 Duo is more than sufficient for most people. The only real upgrade now is from HDD to SSD, but it is a huge upgrade. It will be interesting to see what potential upgrades manufacturers come up with once most computers have SSD by default (within a year?).

I remember paying $300 just to upgrade from a P2-300 to P3-450. $300 for 150Mhz and a few new MMX instructions. I mainly did it because Descent III claimed it could use the new MMX set.

[RCBH928]

I wouldnt buy a new computer now for the SSDs. Its just too expensive.

you can get 3 TB for only $140 !!!
While you will only get SSD 256GB for $183!

Such a huge difference!. Maybe in a year or 2 if 500GB comes to a price point of $160.

My problem is that I am running a laptop, last I heard that laptops dont survive that long any way. They die much faster than a desktop. and it has been almost 4 years already. Still in tip-top shape but dont know how much longer it can survive.

I am waiting for the next huge jump in graphics/processors . I want my computer to be able to run at least as powerful as the PS4 or Xbox 720. Given that I use macs, I will probably have to wait a while....